You probably didn’t see these McDonald’s ads since they ran in Australia during the later part of 2012. At face value, they seem like pretty smart ads considering the fast food giant’s reputation for unhealthy, obesity causing foods.
The basic message says, “Hey, our food comes from the same place as your food.” McDonald’s is subtlety addressing the quality of its foods by talking about the source and not the food itself. That’s an important distinction.
There has been a lot of talk over the last two weeks about the Super Bowl ads and which ones were the best. As far as I’m concerned, the best ads are the ones that address a business need and move the sales needle.
The problem with a lot of the popular ads is just that they are funny. At times, it seems as if Super Bowl advertisers are just competing with each other to be the funniest or most talked about. Yes, that can translate into dollars but not always. Although Budweiser’s “Horse and Trainer Reunited” topped USA Today’s Ad Meter, I’m curious if it did much to move the sales needle.
(Caveat: I recognize that the creative brief for the Budweiser ad may have contained other objectives)
Mercedes-Benz’ “Soul” ad featuring Willem Dafoe was the best ad in Super Bowl XLVII because it’s designed to meet both of the criteria mentioned above.
Brands that identify large-scale social disruptions and then position themselves within the disruption as the brand of choice reap great financial rewards.
For example, brands such as Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Apple and Ben & Jerry’s have all exploited some disruption.
I will spend the next few minutes outlining several current disruptions and then how you might approach them.
The real underdog story of the Super Bowl is not the 49ers trying to come back and beat the Ravens. Rather, it’s start-up SodaStream challenging Coke and Pepsi.
Here’s the game day commercial.
In high school, we had a class project to introduce a new product in our school store. We decided to launch a branded beanie as the weather was turning cold and football season was in full swing.
As part of our market research, we surveyed students to determine color preferences. We showed color samples and the overwhelming response was for blue beanies with a minority wanting white.
The objective of a brand promise is to identify a key need, desire or want based on a consumer insight, and then position your brand as the solution provider.
A campaign must balance creativity and communicating the brand promise.
Along those lines, I always keep my eyes open for ads that achieve two objectives.
It’s rare that I’m impressed. The Honda CRV campaign created by agency mcgarrybowen, however, astounded me.
My three-year old does not like to be labeled, at all. If I call her anything but her name, she promptly replies, “No I’m not [insert descriptor here]. I’m just Anya.”
She does not like to be defined as anything other than just herself.
At first, I thought it was a little curious. I was then a bit concerned (she at times doesn’t like to be called “pretty” rather “just Anya”). But then I realized really how powerful her perspective is.